On a lighter (but not reduced calorie) note… February 8, 2011

My mom had come for a visit a few weeks prior, and while visiting introduced my girls to the delights of one of my childhood favorites…monkey bread.

Oh my. The whole experience left quite an impression on the three-year old.

Don't worry, there was no mixing of media.

Well, on this particular grey play-dough day, we were scheduled to attend a potluck style baby shower. We still had all of the few, (and I mean few), simple ingredients to make this monster, so monkey bread was the obvious choice. The big sister was delighted and didn’t even seem to mind pushing aside her” baby-sister’s-naptime-playdough-creation” to bake something real.

If there is a pre-schooler or perhaps even toddler in your life, this is a great recipe to bake (I use the term loosely), because it is fun and easy for little hands to make, fun and easy for little hands to eat, and involves very little mess or clean up. There aren’t even any mixing bowls involved. Seriously!

In action

And there is popping and shaking!

You basically cut up pieces of already made popping-can buttermilk biscuits, drop them in a freezer bag with cinnamon and sugar and shake ’em. (Add your favorite “shaking” song and dance moves for really genuine three-year old giggles. I happen to have a few in my repertoire. The originals probably weren’t appropriate for her little ears, but the cleaned up mommy versions seemed to do the trick).

Next you dump the cinnamon and sugar coated pieces into a bundt pan, drown them in a heavenly brown sugar-melted butter mixture and throw it in the oven. That’s it.

I think it goes without saying that this stuff has virtually no redeeming nutritional value. But it is decadently delicious. Buttermilk biscuits, brown sugar, butter. Some seriously tasty b- words.

I have to admit that I briefly considered ways to possibly” health it up”. We did happen to use one can of Trader Joe’s brand biscuits because our leftovers from the Mamaw visit were one short. They were supposedly all natural, preservative free, and worked just fine. I think I would use all this kind next time. Shh! Don’t tell Pillsbury. I also noticed that the recipe on the website (which I didn’t look at until now) includes walnuts and raisins. A little protein and crunch wouldn’t hurt to balance things out. But for a first attempt, ours seemed to turn out just fine…

Yum

Sadly, the event we were supposed to attend was cancelled, and after lunch our family was forced to enjoy some of this stuff still warm from the oven.

Tiny taste tester

Do not, I repeat, do not let this happen to you. Find a party to attend, or invite people over…QUICK! You willeat inhale the whole thing. 🙂

Have you made or enjoyed monkey bread? Got any interesting variations? Is all your play dough gray?